
Orcs belong to a long register of monsters, beasts, and villains that fill Middle-earth. But do you know how they came to be the way they are? Join me to explore the origins of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor’s orcs and how the developers created these iconic bad guys!
I have to admit that I haven’t quenched my thirst for writing about Tolkien just yet. So, following my last blog about Celtic music in the 2003 The Hobbit game, I am ready to take you on another adventure through Middle-earth!
As they say, a story is only as good as its villain. That’s why, in this blog, we are stepping into the dark land of Mordor. Most would look towards Tolkien’s books to answer any questions surrounding this land. And that would be very wise considering the man created Middle-earth to extensive detail. However, I propose a different path by examining it through the lens of a video game. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, to be more specific.
Danger fills every corner of Middle-earth, and orcs are perhaps one of the most prominent “evil” creatures one can come across, especially when we look at SoM, where the orcs take up the role of the main antagonists. But what exactly is the root of this “evil”? And how do the orcs from the game hold up and compare to the source material that Tolkien used (like the epic poem Beowulf) to design these villains?

I should maybe start with a small disclaimer! Because this blog is about a video game, I will not be delving into the vast amounts of lore that Tolkien created in his books. If I were to fully discuss every single aspect of his fictional world, then both you and I would be stuck here for days! The fact that the game and its characters aren’t canon to Tolkien’s works reinforces my decision to focus on the game alone.
“Now, back to the Show!”
A New Beginning To An Old Tale

Monolith Productions and Warner Bros released SoM in 2014, and, after its success, they released its sequel Middle-earth: Shadow of War three years later. The game is an open-world action-adventure that tells the story of the Gondorian Ranger Talion and the ghostly Celebrimbor, who is helping him take revenge against the evil forces of Sauron. It is the player’s task to defeat as many orc lieutenants and fighters. This is not as easy as one might think, however, because the game uses the Nemesis system. This mechanic makes the whole game feel a lot more realistic, making sure that when you lose a fight to an orc, they will not only remember you in the next fight but also rise in the orcish ranks and try to be more strategic against the attacks you used last time!
The game draws heavily on Tolkien’s books, and the developers paid special attention to using a lot of the same source material that he used. They drew inspiration from various cultures (Germanic, Celtic, Scandinavian, etc.) throughout the world. Yet, the orcs from the game have no direct basis in any type of mythology. By this I mean to say, no one-on-one translation. Although I am sure the orcs from the game are very different to what Tolkien had in his mind, he is the one who invented and created this lovely bunch and their overarching name “orc.”
(There is a lot to say about the etymology, but I will leave this as is because it doesn’t really aid in my discussion of the game.)
All Things Vile & Dark
Shandi Stevenson made a note on the evil present in Middle-earth, saying that ‘Tolkien “constructed a world with deep roots in the mythology of early Europe, capturing the fear, helplessness, violence, and pessimism characteristics of Norse and Germanic sagas and folk-tales.”’ This pessimistic and violent nature also appears in the game’s orcs. They grab every chance they get to destroy the player, and thanks to the Nemesis system, they will even taunt players when they are unable to kill the orc the first time around. Richard Angelo Bergen additionally claims that all evil creatures, including the orcs, originate in the epic poem Beowulf, ‘other Norse myths, medieval bestiaries and romances, fairy tales, and gothic fiction.’ The developers used the same inspo for their game, as I will explain below.
Beowulf famously contains three monsters: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. The game developers closely followed in Tolkien’s footsteps by using Grendel as a source of inspiration for their orcs. The evil nature that manifests itself on both Grendel’s inside and outside closely mirrors that of the main antagonists. Even if they might have been something very different once, they now appear twisted and tormented. Something evident in the outward appearance of the orcs from the game is that Tolkien described the orcs as ‘corruptions of the “human” form seen in Elves and Men.’ He even goes as far as calling them perverted/converted, which could, of course, also be applied to Grendel.

Another link appears between SoM‘s orcs and Grendel when we look at the time of day. Grendel only attacks Hereot at night, highlighting the fact that he is a creature of darkness. And I hear you thinking. “But the player fights the orcs in the game regardless of daytime or nighttime?” Well, Monolith Productions and WB Games used a clever little workaround to remedy this little discrepancy. The orcs from the game aren’t the sun-allergic type, but actually the closely related sun-resistant Uruk.
Twisted & Violent Origins
But what role do the orcs actually take up in SoM? Yes, they are the main antagonists, but what else? Bergen explains that the orcs function as a storytelling element that closely resembles the way folk tales use villains and monsters. Their addition to the story means something.
In an interview about the sequel (SoW), the developers admitted that their orcs are a manifestation of what happens to humans when hatred and fear corrupt them. The orcs don’t necessarily see themselves as evil; they simply lack self-reflection, empathy, and morals, which is due to a long process in which they lost their humanity. Bergen even jokingly calls them “the infantry of evil,” showing that they are capable of speech, philosophy, strategising, etc., but are severely lacking certain skills that would make them “good.” This, of course, also raises the question of what evil actually means.

David Tneh suggests that the orcs fall under the Boethian view, saying that “evil” manifested itself because of an absence of “good.” The orcs did not start out evil; they became evil because they lacked something along the way. Many folk tales and sagas also express this idea, where villains usually don’t start out evil, but have undergone something (most often something terrible) that has shaped them into the way they are now. Think, for example, of the medieval Icelandic Sagas, which tell the history of early (9th to 11th century) Iceland and all the hardships the settlers experienced. They are full of bloodshed because people momentarily lost their moral compass. You might consider that the scariest villains of all are the ones with a good backstory, as opposed to those who are just “evil” because they can be.
The developers did such an amazing job at bringing these characters to life. Although orcs might have filled the simple role of the bad guy in the books, the game has truly fleshed out these characters. (Peter Jackson worked similarly for his films.) The Nemesis system in the game introduced the opportunity to dive even deeper into the twisted humanity that the orcs represent. Vice President of Creative at Monolith Productions, Michael de Plater, said the following during an interview: ‘Yeah, kind of. The thing with the roles is, again, because we’re coming up with this idea of wanting them to be human and relatable characters, a lot of it is going on TV Tropes and looking up villains. Batman villains are a great example. Batman villains are all examples of exaggerated psychological traits that usually exist in some opposite to Batman.’

This brings me to my final point. Monsters and villains in old myths often take up the same role. They serve as the hero’s exact opposite, showing them what becomes of them if they stray from their destined path. Writers use this device to keep their heroes in line. The diverse personalities and traits within the orcs humanise them and reveal that their “evilness” comes from circumstance; a phenomenon we see in myths, stories, sagas, and folk tales time and time again throughout history.
The developers of SoM worked together with Peter Jackson and the people from the Tolkien estate to make sure the game had that Middle-earth feel, yet they expanded the world so much by giving the villains a human edge, paying special attention to Tolkien’s original inspiration, the Scandinavian, Celtic, and Germanic sources.
Now, this blog isn’t all-encompassing. Much was left out of consideration because the focus of this piece lies on the game and its orcs, as opposed to the orcs that Tolkien established in his books. For that reason, I basically omitted all of his letters and lore. The same goes for Peter Jackson’s films. Nevertheless, I hope I entertained you by briefly diving into the orcs from the award-winning Shadows of Mordor, and see you next time!

Amy Snoeren is an intern of the VALUE Foundation and a Language and Culture Studies (BA) student at Utrecht University. During her time at Utrecht, she’s followed a multitude of subjects, such as Ancient Greek and Roman culture, as well as Celtic languages and culture. She hopes to follow this up with a masters in Public History, with a focus on video games and film & TV. She mostly enjoys action-adventure games and horror games with great storytelling, but also enjoys simple, silly games with friends. If you would like to contact her, you can message her via LinkedIn.